Hawaiian Airline's losing argument defending practices "to stay competitive"
May 1, 2015, 2:44 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: IAH
Programs: UA 1K MM, SPG Platinum
Posts: 88
Hawaiian Airline's losing argument defending practices "to stay competitive"
Fellow FlyerTalkers,
This is one passenger’s view on the epically sad state of customer service at Hawaiian Airlines. Importantly, I am not a former, current, or prospective employee. Rather, I am a longtime passenger who has seen the service decline into what it has become through the airline’s minimizing its staffing and off-shoring its reservations. Yet to hear Hawaiian defend that these practices--at least off-shoring--is necessary “to stay competitive” is difficult to fathom
As background, a month or so ago, I had several bad experiences on what should have been a couple of simple intra-island flights. As it turns out, these incidents were just a microcosm of the effects of Hawaiian’s apparent operating model. But the underlying service issues with those flights aren’t the focus of this post. Instead, Hawaiian’s response to my feedback—which seemed pretty disingenuous—is what prompted me to share my thoughts with the FT community.
In reply to my message to Consumer Affairs, Hawaiian wrote:
“To remain competitive, we sometimes do make the hard decision to use off-shore service providers. We do this for several reasons: we want to sustain our airline’s legacy of serving Hawaii, we employ 4,000 people in Hawaii, and we operate in an extremely competitive, volatile industry, competing against mainland-based and international airlines that are many times our size.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. Hawaiian Airlines most definitely does not operate in an “extremely competitive” environment on its intra-island flights. Quite the opposite. Since the demise of the ill-fated Go! and especially since the bankruptcy of Aloha, Hawaiian Airlines has operated a virtual monopoly between the islands. As such, the lack of meaningful competition allows Hawaiian Airlines to charge almost whatever it wants, to gouge fees as high as it wants, and so slash customer service (read: employees) as much as it wants. While this is all perfectly lawful, it is just awful. The airline’s service decline is painfully evident in three areas.
First, the Honolulu airport check-in counters. Although there are many check-in counters, they are mostly empty--with employee interaction only available for first class, international, and some mainland flights. It is extremely difficult to get help with baggage check-in. Self-service Kiosks are the near exclusive method to check-in bags. Hawaiian employees essentially aren’t available. And the "customer service" counter is staffed by one--perhaps two--employees. Worse still, those employees frequently leave the counter for long periods of time even though there are sometimes lengthy lines of customers waiting to be helped. In the HNL airport check-in counters, unless you are flying first class or international, customer service is almost a pure fiction.
Second, inside the terminal. At the gates, it is shocking to see how few Hawaiian employees there are and how demanding their work is. Frequently, only one employee works a gate that is boarding multiple flights with hundreds of people almost simultaneously. Similarly, the very few "customer service" counters between the gates aren’t much better. On a recent flight through HNL, I waited in such a customer service line only to see the paper run out on the ticket printing machine. The employee wasn't able to fix it on her own, thus needing to call another employee for help. That took a lengthy amount of time. In the meantime, the customer line backed up to near triple the size it was before the paper ran out. In addition, the Premier Club lounge experience isn’t much different. Indeed, the last time I visited the Premier Club at HNL, there was no one at the front desk to check access. I saw many people enter behind me either without showing their membership credentials or being charged the daily access fee. Soon it became obvious why this was so: the lone club employee had to take care of something away from the desk or was on break. By the time she returned, many people had entered the lounge unchecked and the club was becoming a mess.
Third, off-shore reservations. The airline’s business decision to out-source its reservations center overseas is appalling. [In a side note: Consumer Affairs says that it “sometimes” uses off-shore providers. In the last several years of calling, I have never been able to reach a direct employee—nor have I been able to find a listing for a reservations office in Hawaii. Perhaps these lines are only for elite passengers?] At any rate, these well-meaning but marginalized off-shore contractors are empowered to do little more than book flights and take money (i.e., process credit card charges). These non-airline employees have no authority to resolve complex problems or to escalate issues to a Hawaiian employee. In fact, in my experience, it is impossible for a passenger to reach an actual Hawaiian direct employee by phone. It is disheartening that an American business would block customers from reaching the company in the very same country it reaps its revenue from. In Hawaiian’s case, this does not appear to be about globalization or reducing expenses to remain competitive. Rather, the airline seems to have taken under-staffing and off-shoring to an extreme. Because it can.
The truth is, Hawaiian has almost no competition on its intra-island market. So to dramatically remove the service element (employees) from a business that revolves around passengers (customers) who fly within Hawaii is unlikely a necessary measure in order to stay competitive. The more likely explanation is that Hawaiian reduces its labor to almost skeletal levels and off-shores its reservations solely to maximize its profits. With such a model, customer service is just an expense to be reduced. And apparently passenger satisfaction is not a concern. Such is the state of Hawaiian Airline’s near monopoly power for travel between the islands.
The Customer Relations’ justification for gutting service to stay competitive is sheer nonsense.
Your thoughts?
This is one passenger’s view on the epically sad state of customer service at Hawaiian Airlines. Importantly, I am not a former, current, or prospective employee. Rather, I am a longtime passenger who has seen the service decline into what it has become through the airline’s minimizing its staffing and off-shoring its reservations. Yet to hear Hawaiian defend that these practices--at least off-shoring--is necessary “to stay competitive” is difficult to fathom
As background, a month or so ago, I had several bad experiences on what should have been a couple of simple intra-island flights. As it turns out, these incidents were just a microcosm of the effects of Hawaiian’s apparent operating model. But the underlying service issues with those flights aren’t the focus of this post. Instead, Hawaiian’s response to my feedback—which seemed pretty disingenuous—is what prompted me to share my thoughts with the FT community.
In reply to my message to Consumer Affairs, Hawaiian wrote:
“To remain competitive, we sometimes do make the hard decision to use off-shore service providers. We do this for several reasons: we want to sustain our airline’s legacy of serving Hawaii, we employ 4,000 people in Hawaii, and we operate in an extremely competitive, volatile industry, competing against mainland-based and international airlines that are many times our size.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. Hawaiian Airlines most definitely does not operate in an “extremely competitive” environment on its intra-island flights. Quite the opposite. Since the demise of the ill-fated Go! and especially since the bankruptcy of Aloha, Hawaiian Airlines has operated a virtual monopoly between the islands. As such, the lack of meaningful competition allows Hawaiian Airlines to charge almost whatever it wants, to gouge fees as high as it wants, and so slash customer service (read: employees) as much as it wants. While this is all perfectly lawful, it is just awful. The airline’s service decline is painfully evident in three areas.
First, the Honolulu airport check-in counters. Although there are many check-in counters, they are mostly empty--with employee interaction only available for first class, international, and some mainland flights. It is extremely difficult to get help with baggage check-in. Self-service Kiosks are the near exclusive method to check-in bags. Hawaiian employees essentially aren’t available. And the "customer service" counter is staffed by one--perhaps two--employees. Worse still, those employees frequently leave the counter for long periods of time even though there are sometimes lengthy lines of customers waiting to be helped. In the HNL airport check-in counters, unless you are flying first class or international, customer service is almost a pure fiction.
Second, inside the terminal. At the gates, it is shocking to see how few Hawaiian employees there are and how demanding their work is. Frequently, only one employee works a gate that is boarding multiple flights with hundreds of people almost simultaneously. Similarly, the very few "customer service" counters between the gates aren’t much better. On a recent flight through HNL, I waited in such a customer service line only to see the paper run out on the ticket printing machine. The employee wasn't able to fix it on her own, thus needing to call another employee for help. That took a lengthy amount of time. In the meantime, the customer line backed up to near triple the size it was before the paper ran out. In addition, the Premier Club lounge experience isn’t much different. Indeed, the last time I visited the Premier Club at HNL, there was no one at the front desk to check access. I saw many people enter behind me either without showing their membership credentials or being charged the daily access fee. Soon it became obvious why this was so: the lone club employee had to take care of something away from the desk or was on break. By the time she returned, many people had entered the lounge unchecked and the club was becoming a mess.
Third, off-shore reservations. The airline’s business decision to out-source its reservations center overseas is appalling. [In a side note: Consumer Affairs says that it “sometimes” uses off-shore providers. In the last several years of calling, I have never been able to reach a direct employee—nor have I been able to find a listing for a reservations office in Hawaii. Perhaps these lines are only for elite passengers?] At any rate, these well-meaning but marginalized off-shore contractors are empowered to do little more than book flights and take money (i.e., process credit card charges). These non-airline employees have no authority to resolve complex problems or to escalate issues to a Hawaiian employee. In fact, in my experience, it is impossible for a passenger to reach an actual Hawaiian direct employee by phone. It is disheartening that an American business would block customers from reaching the company in the very same country it reaps its revenue from. In Hawaiian’s case, this does not appear to be about globalization or reducing expenses to remain competitive. Rather, the airline seems to have taken under-staffing and off-shoring to an extreme. Because it can.
The truth is, Hawaiian has almost no competition on its intra-island market. So to dramatically remove the service element (employees) from a business that revolves around passengers (customers) who fly within Hawaii is unlikely a necessary measure in order to stay competitive. The more likely explanation is that Hawaiian reduces its labor to almost skeletal levels and off-shores its reservations solely to maximize its profits. With such a model, customer service is just an expense to be reduced. And apparently passenger satisfaction is not a concern. Such is the state of Hawaiian Airline’s near monopoly power for travel between the islands.
The Customer Relations’ justification for gutting service to stay competitive is sheer nonsense.
Your thoughts?
May 1, 2015, 7:48 pm
#2
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: American, Hawaiian, United
Posts: 97
You sound like a disgruntled employee. Yea the reservations is off shore but they are good at what they do, courteous and speak English mostly without an accent.
A lot of airlines are using Kiosks. Hawaiian just has it's client base trained better than most.
The servie at the clubs while not the greatest isn't very bad.
Yes, the prices are out of line. After all, sometimes you can got to the mainland for less than going interisland.
But let's just call it like it is....a well run monopoly.
A lot of airlines are using Kiosks. Hawaiian just has it's client base trained better than most.
The servie at the clubs while not the greatest isn't very bad.
Yes, the prices are out of line. After all, sometimes you can got to the mainland for less than going interisland.
But let's just call it like it is....a well run monopoly.
May 3, 2015, 10:20 am
#3
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: NYC/HNL
Posts: 459
Agreed that HA customer service is lacking based on the few times I’ve had to use them, however they did resolve JFK/HNL re-booking issues. The inability to speak with higher level representatives is frustrating.
Flying strictly from JFK, I can’t comment on inter-island service problems but not sure that this “monopoly” drives their business model.
In 2014 it only accounted for about 24 percent of passenger revenues, North American (U.S.) routes 49 percent and trans-pacific routes 27 percent. So there is indeed competition outside the inter-island market.
Whether or not this justifies the out-sourcing of customer service reps is something more knowledgeable members may wish to comment on.
Flying strictly from JFK, I can’t comment on inter-island service problems but not sure that this “monopoly” drives their business model.
In 2014 it only accounted for about 24 percent of passenger revenues, North American (U.S.) routes 49 percent and trans-pacific routes 27 percent. So there is indeed competition outside the inter-island market.
Whether or not this justifies the out-sourcing of customer service reps is something more knowledgeable members may wish to comment on.
May 5, 2015, 1:01 pm
#5
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: HNL
Programs: UA GS4MM, MR LT Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 6,447